It seems like most nights when I fix dinner, I don’t plan a recipe I’m going to make then go to the store to buy the ingredients. Instead, I am looking through my fridge, pantry, etc. to see what I have on hand and what I can make with that. I guess that’s due to the fact that I get my box from the CSA Full Circle Farm once every two weeks, and my meals need to be based around those fruits and vegetables. Some weeks I am scrambling to use up the things before I get my next box, and some weeks, like this one, I’m out of everything. I only had some lettuce that I had picked up at the store for a salad in the fridge. So it was time to look in the pantry to see what staples were there. I had thawed out some shrimp (I’m still trying to finish off last year’s catch). I remembered a recipe for Shrimp Etoufee that was given to me years ago from a Louisiana girl I worked with, but I didn’t have any onions or celery to make her recipe. So I invented my own. The recipe is not exact, since I didn’t measure anything, but it made a nice spicy concoction to serve over rice.
SHRIMP ETOUFEE
14 oz can diced tomatoes w/ garlic & onion
7 oz can green chilies
8 oz can tomato sauce
Dump these into a large deep skillet, and heat. Add to taste (I added a lot) creole seasoning, garlic powder, black pepper, dried parsely, tabasco. Add about 2 cups or so of water, and let simmer for about 1 hour. About 20 minutes before ready, cook your white rice. Then about 10 minutes before the rice is ready, add your peeled, cleaned shrimp to the tomato mixture and cook until done (normally shrimp cooks in 3-4 minutes, but I had used a lot of shrimp-about 3 pounds with shells/tails intact, so it took about 10 minutes). When done, pull off heat and wait for the rice to finish cooking. Add more tabasco if needed, and serve the etoufee over the white rice.

SHRIMP BEING ADDED TO SAUCE

SHRIMP COOKING IN SAUCE

FINISHED ETOUFEE